In the remote village of Emond's Field, five young people - Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Egwene al'Vere, and Nynaeve al'Meara - are drawn into a world-spanning conflict when the Aes Sedai Moiraine arrives with her Warder Lan, pursued by agents of the Dark One. Forced to flee their homes, the group journeys across a dangerous landscape of ruined cities, cursed roads, and ancient strongholds toward the Eye of the World, a pool of pure power hidden in the corrupted Blight. The Eye of the World establishes the series' central tension - Rand's dawning realisation that he may be the Dragon Reborn, the prophesied figure destined to face the Dark One at the Last Battle, and the knowledge that every male channeller before him has gone mad and destroyed everything he loved.